Explosions in the Sky, Mono, God Is an Astronaut, The Evpatoria Report, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Caspian, Russian Circles, Nyctalgia, A Silver Mt. Zion, This Will Destroy You, Mogwai, Sigur Rós, Do Make Say Think, 65daysofstatic, Tortoise, Hammock, The Album Leaf, The American Dollar, And So I Watch You From Afar, Ef, El Ten Eleven, World's End Girlfriend, If These Trees Could Talk.

I saw Mono play here in San Francisco earlier this month on their North America tour, a great performance. I've always enjoyed instrumental portions of rock and post rock gets heavier than some of the progressive rock I listen to.

Explosions in the Sky, Mono, God Is an Astronaut, The Evpatoria Report, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Caspian, Russian Circles, Nyctalgia, A Silver Mt. Zion, This Will Destroy You, Mogwai, Sigur Rós, Do Make Say Think, 65daysofstatic, Tortoise, Hammock, The Album Leaf, The American Dollar, And So I Watch You From Afar, Ef, El Ten Eleven, World's End Girlfriend, If These Trees Could Talk.

These bands seem expand in a very wide range of music. Some pure instrumental, some has vocals. I have heard some and will definitely check out the ones I did not hear yet, thanks for the list!

I've got something of a love-hate relationship with Post-Rock. In recent years it really seems to have become a parody of itself, and it all sounds pretty samey samey. That said, there are some albums in the genre (or that at least seem inspired by the genre) that I just could literally not live without. Allow me to be snobby, and inflict upon you all my favorite post-rock/psuedo post-rock albums:

Agalloch: Ashes Against the Grain (I'm not adverse to calling black metal post-rock, especially when it as much in debt to shoegaze and folk as it is to 'proper' black metal.)

Broken Social Scene: You Forgot it In People (Very light post-rock elements, but mostly just beautiful, near perfect pop-rock.)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Anything by them, for reasons of because duh.)

Isis: Oceanic and Panopticon (God-tier post-metal.)

Kayo Dot: Choirs of the Eye (Post-rock yes, but also chamber music and avant-garde metal. Truly unique. They stray into avant-garde jazz on their later albums with.... interesting results.)

Mono & World's End Girlfriend: Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain (Mono and World's End Girlfriend make fine music when left to their own devices, but this album is the best thing either of them have done by some distance, in my opinion.)

Natural Snow Buildings: The Dance of the Moon and the Sun (Very hard to get a physical copy of, but you can find it online everywhere. And it is truly *stunning.* Deserves to be way more well-known than it is.)

Sigur Ros (Almost anything by them.)

Slint: Spiderland (Math rock + post-rock = bliss, it turns out.)

Swans (Anything by them. GY!BE and Swans are the two cornerstones of the whole genre so far as I'm concerned.)

I've got something of a love-hate relationship with Post-Rock. In recent years it really seems to have become a parody of itself, and it all sounds pretty samey samey. That said, there are some albums in the genre (or that at least seem inspired by the genre) that I just could literally not live without. Allow me to be snobby, and inflict upon you all my favorite post-rock/psuedo post-rock albums:

i agree with this, the post rock i love i really, really love. the rest of it is so so at best.

the earlier stuff is generally better (which can be said of a lot of genres)....staples like godspeed!, a silver mt. zion, slint (only the one record), explosions in the sky, and do make say think....all those bands have generally amazing discographies and i always like everything that they do then and now.

i really like "post metal" - russian circles, red sparowes, isis, pelican, etc.) right now, as it is a slightly newer to me sub-genre and there is some really unique stuff, there is a new movement of black metal (USBM) which contains a lot of post metal instrumental stuff and is really unique and beautiful (the new ash borer record is simply amazing post metal style work) with long songs and the classic structure of building, bringing down, building back up, etc.

there is a little know post rock gem out there you should check out, "Set Fire to Flames" - Sings Reign Rebuilder....they only produced two albums, and only one that's important, but it's a true stunner and one of the coolest backstories ever

Yeah, Signs Reign Rebuilder is a good record. Not one of my absolute favorites, but it's up there. So far as post-metal is concerned, you ever listen to Neurosis? If you like Isis and Pelican I think chances are good that you'll really dig them. Would also really recommend Cult of Luna.

I'm a big fan of the new wave of black-metal (US and otherwise) myself--Ash Borer is certainly a good one. You might like Agalloch if you haven't tried it already--assuming you can get past the singer's voice. It's a real turn-off for some people, and even though I love the band, I find myself still sometimes having to steel myself in preparation for listening to the dude. You should also look into Alcest, Deafheaven, Wolves in the Throne Room, Blut Aus Nord, Negura Bunget, and even some older BM, like Burzum and Ulver. All have a strong post-rock/shoegaze influence, and are great not only as a gateway drug for 'real' black metal, but are just amazing in their own right.

I think ultimately that's the thing I appreciate most about post-rock--it seeps into so many genres. From post-rock you can jump into jazz, classical, chamber music, electronica, post-hardcore, punk rock, folk, shoegaze, sludge metal, post-metal, black metal, drone, minimalism, ambient, whatever, because post-rock is such a 'wide' genre with so many influences--it's really almost the ideal genre to get into if you're interested in widening your musical tastes.

i have all of the artists that you mentioned, and enjoy it all! blut aus nord is definitely one of the best you mentioned (at least as far as keeping inside the post rock theme of the thread). i'm just really shocked at how much i like the new ash borer album, it touches on so many different themes and really i'd class it as more post metal than black metal (same as some blut aus nord). i like USBM (i use the acronym for all new wave BM, kinda like NWOBHM which is now primarily based out of sweden LOL) but it's not my first listening choice, but the new ash borer is part of my regular rotation, it gives me the chills.

i think of "post rock" as more of a feeling than a genre or classification, because of the reasons you listed-it touches on so many different types of sounds and music that it isn't really definable. although there is "stereotype" or "classic" post rock like GY!BE, EiTS, etc....i have about 600 albums in my "post rock" collection but i'm sure someone could argue some of the choices as far as actual genre